The Creepiest Cartoons

There are a couple cartoons that are just plain creepy, but still good. For this post, I will only be counting in western animated (there are way too many creepy anime) television shows (there are also too many creepy movies). In my opinion, there are two cartoons that stick out above the rest as terrifying.

Invader Zim

This show was about an alien named Zim who comes to Earth to conquer it for his home race, the Irkens. He disguises himself badly, setting off a warning inside Dib, a budding paranormal investigator, who is the only one who recognizes him as an alien. The rest of the show is about their back and forth interactions as Zim tries to take over the Earth and Dib stopping him and exposing him as an alien. 

There are many reasons why this show is so creepy, and the main reason is due to its premise and the creator. The creator created other shows and comics about homicidal killers, and one would expect a creepy cartoon from such a guy. Some of the creepiest episodes include "Bestest Friend", "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom", "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", and especially "Dark Harvest" (video). These episodes include ripping peoples' eyeballs out ("Bestest Friend"), scary monsters and insanity ("Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom"), and reducing an individual to nothing by destroying their past ("Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy"). And then there's "Dark Harvest", whose plot about organ collection makes it feel like a horror movie. After learning that he has different organs from humans, Zim goes around the Skool and steals peoples' organs, replacing them with stuff, until he is an abomination of too many organs. The scariest scene is when Zim chases after Dib, the last healthy individual who still as all of their organs, in the vents, eventually cornering Dib and stealing an organ from him.

video used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnOBIwi9gLM

   Courage the Cowardly Dog

This show is about a dog named Courage who literally lives out in the middle of Nowhere (seriously, that's the name of the town) with his two elderly owners, Muriel and Eustace. As the title suggests, Courage is a very cowardly dog, and in his hometown, a lot of creepy things happen, and Courage is responsible for saving his owners. 

The main reason why this show might be so creepy is the monsters themselves. Since this is a show about fear, there needs to be something to fear, and this show does an excellent job at that. There are too many creepy episodes of this show, as well as creepy moments within some not-so creepy episodes.

The creepy moments

As mentioned previously, there are moments within tame episodes that are scary when compared to the rest of the episode. The best examples of these include the episodes "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City", "King Ramses's Curse", and "Perfect". 

"Courage in the Big Stinkin' City" is semi-creepy, and involves Courage taking a trip to the city and meeting a cockroach named Schwick who tells them of an unseen monster. The creepiest part of this episode comes when Courage is opening and closing doors in Schwick's flat, and runs into a girl with her back to him playing the violin. She then turns 

around, revealing herself to be a terrifying monster. This scene is so scary thanks to the bad claymation and the effect of the jump scare. We weren't expecting what happened, and the different animation style makes it stick out.

 A different animation style was also used in "King Ramses's Curse", on a mummified King Ramses who haunts the farmhouse. The bad computer animation used to create him makes his movements unnatural, and when partnered with his creepy voice, it creates one of the most disturbing scenes in Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Finally, creepy scenes are achieved in this show by way of character design, as seen in the episode "Perfect", where Courage creates an imaginary teacher who trains him to be perfect. The creepy scene in this episode is Courage's nightmare. As this imaginary teacher drives him more and more to the brink of insanity, he has a nightmare featuring a thing floating in blackness saying 'you're not perfect'. What makes this scene so bad is that it is impossible to tell what the thing is. It sort of looks like a fetus or a head, but it has no definite form. Its strange and unnatural movements, hypnotic voice, and form combine to make one of the most infamous scenes in all of this show. 

videos used:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o3DLIYhH50  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a73fXzc9U_o#t=11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFDldk9D_Qc

The creepy episodes

Just like there are creepy moments within tame episodes, there are episodes that are fully creepy. These episodes are often spoofs of horror movies, and include episodes like "A Night at the Katz Motel", "The Demon in the Mattress", "The Great Fusilli", and "Freaky Fred".

"A Night at the Katz Motel"(video) has Courage, Muriel, and Eustace stop at the Katz motel for the night. The motel is run by a smooth-talking cat named Katz who in actuality is going to feed them tor a nest of giant spiders hidden within the motel. This episode similar to Psycho, and the giant spiders are very scary. The Katz Motel is certainly one place I wouldn't want to spend the night.  

In the episode "The Demon in the Mattress"(video), Muriel orders a new mattress from a company claiming that 'they are the best' and that 'they have been waiting for her'. When the mattress arrives by way of two rats and a horse-drawn carriage, Muriel goes to lie down in it upstairs and locks Courage out of the room so she can sleep. Courage, reading the signs and realizing that the green-tinted mattress isn't good, peaks in on Muriel and witnesses her being possessed by a demon that lives in the mattress. Courage then has to perform exorcism on Muriel, sending the demon away and returning her back to normal. They then return the mattress, The creepy scenes in this episode occur because this episode is almost a direct spoof on The Exorcist. Muriel acts just like Regan when she is possessed, even having the iconic 360 degrees head spin scene. You know a cartoon is creepy when an episode is based on one of the most scary horror movies out there. 

"The Great Fusilli" isn't visually scary, but it is very thematically disturbing. An alligator comes to town and offers Muriel and Eustace the opportunity to perform for a reasonable amount of money. This episode is disturbing due to its ending, which involves Fusilli (the alligator) turning Muriel and Eustace into puppets, and Courage, unsure of what to do, playing out his life like normal with their dead puppet bodies. The fact that Courage is unwilling to accept their demise and instead still pretends his life is normal and they are alive is psychologically unsettling and scarring.

Finally, the creepiest episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog is the episode "Freaky Fred" (video). In this episode, Muriel's nephew Fred comes to visit. Fred is a barber who is obsessed with shaving people, and when Courage is accidentally locked in the bathroom with Fred, he is abused by Fred who starts shaving Courage's fur off. Courage calls the asylum to take Fred away before it gets too serious. By the time Muriel is finally able to reopen the bathroom the only fur that Courage has left is on his tail, and Fred is taken away in a straight jacket, smiling at Courage. This episode is creepy in a number of ways, To start, it is a spoof of Sweeney Todd, a well-known horror movie. Second, the whole episode is narrated by Fred, who tells the whole thing in rhyme. He also has a very creepy design, with green eyes ,wild, unkempt hair, and a crazed smile of crooked teeth. In other words, he looks like a madman. Finally, the way the episode plays out is scary. The different flashbacks and stories throughout the episode are a foreshadowing tactic, and help illustrate how insane Fred is. This is Courage the Cowardly Dog's creepiest episode.          

videos used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p42ToryoPjU#t=559
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM6IUtGMoRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHM57-QMxM#t=10